Conventional 60 Hz AC powered fluorescent lighting arrangements are not used in document scanners because of the non-uniform lighting which results. Consequently, existing document scanners often require an expensive and bulky power supply to power the document illumination apparatus. One common type of illumination arrangement uses direct current (DC) powered fluorescent light bulbs to provide uniform lighting of documents for the scanner. However, DC powered fluorescent bulbs must be periodically reversed or they do not last long. Moreover, the DC supplies are costly.
Another lighting arrangement utilizes a high-frequency power supply to provide uniform lighting. Such an arrangement, however, tends to be costly, noisy, inefficient, and require expensive bulbs. What is needed is a low-cost, efficient and uniform lighting arrangement for a document scanner.